According to the report, Cleveland ranked 10th among 50 metro areas for productivity increases and job growth and near the top third in 150 global metro regions.

“U.S. metros that suffered severe economic declines during the recession, such as Detroit and Cleveland, posted significant rebounds . . . even as metros such as Atlanta and Las Vegas await a stronger recovery,” the report states.

These areas, Minneapolis, and even the state of Ohio as a whole, are showing relatively rapid economic improvement, according to the report. The trend has also been borne out by additional research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, according to the Plain Dealer.

I’m too tired to read this whole report right now, but on first blush this makes sense (although I still find myself surprised, in spite of myself). Manufacturing orders have been up for a while and were one of the first signs of economic turnaround. GM and Chrysler just announced they planning to bring 2,000 high-tech jobs to the Detroit region. It adds up that the areas that make things would recover faster than economies that were based on the-real-estate-smoke-and-mirrors game. Export goods are still the surest way to build wealth (outside of duping people with bogus financial products).

Another random thought (sorry for the train of consciousness, it’s late), but this demonstrates how erratic and unpredictable the modern economy is. Who would have thought that Detroit was going to have a rapid turn-around 18 months ago? The entire country has spent the last 18 months writing it off for dead. This is why it’s a bad idea to dismiss certain cities as hopeless. If everyone was willing to do that, we’d all be chilling in Las Vegas right now consuming the last drops of water in underwater condos.

Maybe cities and regions are more resilient that we have been acknowledging.